Wellington, July 14 (IANS) Virtual reality (VR) therapies may reduce phobias as a new trial suggests fresh hope for the estimated one in 12 people worldwide suffering from a fear of flying, needles, heights, spiders, and dogs.The results from the trial, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, showed a 75 per cent reduction in phobia symptoms after six weeks of the treatment programme."The improvements they reported suggest there's great potential for the use of VR and mobile phone apps as a means of self-guided treatment for people struggling with often-crippling phobias," said researcher Cameron Lacey, Associate Professor at the University of Otago.For the study, the team included a total of 129 people, who took part in the six-week randomised, controlled trial, between May 2021 and December 2021, with a 12-week follow-up. Participants needed to be aged between 18-64 years, and have a fear of flying, heights, needles, spiders, and dogs. Participants downloaded a fully self-guided smartphone app aimed at treating patients with phobia and anxiety. They were emailed weekly questionnaires to record their progress. Those experiencing adverse events could request contact from a clinical psychologist at any stage.The trial studied phobia patients using a headset and a smartphone app treatment programme -- a combination of Virtual Reality (VR) 360-degree video exposure therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).The app programme consisted of standard CBT components including psychoeducation, relaxation, mindfulness, cognitive techniques, exposure through VR, and a relapse prevention model.Participants were able to select their own exposure levels to their particular phobia from a large library of VR videos.The researchers said this trial was novel, due to the cost-effective availability of the app and headsets and the fact that multiple phobias were tested at once.
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